SKOWHEGAN – The home invasion and theft trial of Daniel L. Fortune picked up today with the words of co-defendant Leo Rose Hylton being read to the jury.

Hylton, 20, who spent almost four hours on on the witness stand on Monday, was ordered back to the trial in Somerset County Superior Court on Tuesday.

But before he arrived, the court reporter read aloud Hylton’s words from a Feb. 26 hearing when he was being sentenced for his role in the Pittston home invasion that left a father and his daughter, then 10, with permanent injuries.

The transcript shows Hylton apologizing for his role in the home invasion and saying he should have stopped Fortune, the man he viewed as his older brother. He said he could have done nothing to save the father, William Guerrette Jr., then 48, and that he failed to save the girl, Nicole.

Hylton put all the blame on Fortune.

Fortune and Hylton were foster brothers sharing an Augusta apartment on May 27, 2008, when the home of William Guerrette Jr. was entered and two of the five family members were slashed by a machete-wielding intruder.

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Hylton pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 90 years in prison, with all but 50 years suspended and 15 years’ probation.

Fortune, 22, is on trial on more than a dozen charges related to the home invasion and to a prior theft of more than $100,000 worth of property from the Guerrette residence.

Maine State Police Detective Jason Richards testified this morning about questioning Fortune and Hylton several times, starting a couple of hours after the predawn home invasion occurred.

He testified that initially both men denied being anywhere outside the apartment after midnight the previous day.

Their stories changed gradually, he said.


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